Over the past 6 months, I have been extremely regimented/structured/disciplined, whatever you want to call it, in order to get back to feeling my best from the inside out. I am a creature of habit but I also love to travel, try new foods, sip on wine, throw caution to the wind and just LIVE. But there’s really nothing quite like a routine, sleeping well, and feeling GOOD every morning when I wake up. After my summer of fun, I decided to really take my health and wellness seriously and can say it has worked, I am down a few pant sizes, back to my pre-baby weight after 5+ years, and feeling the best I have felt in years. Turns out, if you listen to Alix and take her advice, it just might work 😉 Luckily for me, I get her advice for free because we’re besties but when she starts back up with her private practice, my advice is to get in with her ASAP! She knows what she’s talking about. Here are 5 wellness habits I’ve been incorporating to feel my best:
Write It Down
Something about seeing my habits written down in black and white has kept me accountable, specifically when it comes to food and supplements. This can easily be done through an app like My Fitness Pal, which I have done in the past, but keeping an actual food/supp journal has been somewhat therapeutic. It is also the truth mirror staring me down and asking me the hard hitting questions like, “Are you hungry or bored?” I don’t restrict any foods but because I am writing down every single last crumb that crosses my lips, it has made me think twice about some of my decisions. Do I need the leftover french fries at the bottom of the McDonald’s bag? Probs not. Do I still reach for them, yerrrrrp. Write it down and make a better decision next time lol. I don’t expect I’ll need to write down every single last meal forever but for now, it’s really helping me change habits I didn’t know needed breaking.
Increasing My Protein, Specifically at Breakfast
For YEARS, I would live off coffee until lunch time. Then maybe I’d have a bar or smoothie and then feel ravenous by dinner time. Then eat a bowl of ice cream because I was still hungry and my blood sugar was so out of whack. I realized that by doing this, my body was in serious fight or flight mode and spiking my cortisol (stress hormone).. but more on that later. I am just not a breakfast person and never was.. until I forced myself to be. Even if I’m not necessarily hungry, I force a protein-rich breakfast in the morning to set myself up for success the rest of the day. I find myself satiated, less “snacky,” and making better decisions the remainder of the day. I typically reach for Culina plain yogurt, a scoop of flavorless protein powder (I like Be Well by Kelly), and granola/berries/nuts on top to really get the extra protein in. It’s really really really hard to over-indulge on protein so when I make that the center of every meal, I don’t over-eat and leave feeling satisfied. Making this change has also seriously curbed my sugar cravings. She still loves a piece of chocolate after dinner but I don’t need the entire Hershey bar, ya know? Making breakfast a priority has been a total game changer.
Low Impact Workouts
I did a Dutch hormone test a little over a year ago and it was extremely eye opening. My cortisol stress hormone was through the roof and at the recommendation of my naturopath, I was told to really limit HIIT, or high intensity, workouts. So things like running bootcamps or Orange Theory classes, while they made me feel good mentally, they were doing absolutely nothing good for my body on the inside. And surprisingly, I wasn’t seeing any results from the endless cardio I was doing.. because my body was in fight or flight and hanging on to every last pound. It had been engrained in me at such a young age that we needed to run off pounds and it’s simply not true. In fact, it did the opposite for me. I stopped running altogether and focused on strength training (weights) and walking. I sprinkle in yoga and pilates because they feel good and help with flexibility but honestly, it’s the weights and walking that have proven to work. I also play a boat load of pickleball and tennis but I treat that as my social hour 😉 There was a time between having Cameron and getting pregnant with Parker that Alix and I did BBG strength training almost 5 days a week. I don’t even know if that app still exists but it was great! I was in the best shape of my life at that point (and then boom Parker decided to make his presence known) and I don’t know why it took me so long to realize that weights was so necessary to reincorporate back into my workouts. Alix does a lot of research, reading, and listening to the experts (and she is also an expert) so once I listened to her, I saw the changes in my body I was so desperate to see. I am nowhere near where I want to be with my strength training and I want to tone up but my body is finally shedding weight it was hanging onto for 5 years (because that third kid really does a number on you).
Try a New Hobby
It’s no secret that we love a game of pickleball round here. Yeah we know it’s annoying and we’re a little obsessed but over the past year I’ve really gotten into raquet sports like pickleball and tennis. I had wanted to learn how to play tennis for years but I had young children who weren’t in school full time so it made scheduling a hobby like tennis very difficult. Fast forward to now, I have been able to squeeze in games of pickleball and tennis multiple times a week and the obsession has only increased. While they are great workouts, I don’t see them this way; rather, it’s a new hobby that happens to be athletic, fun, and social. There’s no doubt that my body has appreciated this new form of exercise and doesn’t feel stressful on it.
Limit Alcohol
Womp womp. The least fun one but honestly, this has probably had the biggest impact on me physically. Over the past several months, I drink only on occasion and typically only in a social setting. But also just a lot less in general. The months of January and February are very slow from a social calendar perspective so it’s easy to cut back this time of year. The holidays were a bit tougher and let me tell you, I was sleeping horribly because of the increase in alcohol. Sleep is the number one factor when it comes to our health and if we aren’t sleeping well or long enough, everything else is affected. A domino effect of bad behavior. And alcohol directly impacts sleep quality.. that we know. Limiting alcohol means I’m in bed by 8:30, usually asleep by 9:30 every night, getting more than 8 hours of quality sleep, leading to healthy behaviors the next day. I still love a glass of champagne with my girlfriends or a glass of red out to dinner with my husband.. and on a girls trip we are throwing it back.. but in my every day life, from week to week, it’s basically cut out entirely. When you see me with an aperol, I’m celebrating something special 😉
xx, Heather
